Weathering the COVID-19 storm, moving from ‘survival of the fittest' to ‘survival of the quickest'

Exploring the critical need for an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach to steer the economy and challenge traditional norms of doing business, as the world looks to leaders to weather the economic implications of COVID-19

- Tanya Goonewardene

The brewing of a storm

In the most unexpected manner, cases of COVID-19 first emerged at the back of 2019, when a mysterious illness was reported in Wuhan, China. A week later, it was confirmed that a new virus was spreading.

Within days, the world came to know of a virus, a disease that can spread rapidly and kill thousands. As the number of fatalities was rising rapidly China became the epicenter of global concerns. By now, it has been upgraded from an endemic to an epidemic and then to a pandemic, an infectious decease that could spread worldwide.

This called for countries to resort to extreme measures such as unprecedented social lockdowns and nationwide curfews. Suddenly social distancing became imperative. Economic activity took a back seat and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of nations became the top priority of their leaders.

Overnight the world was put on alert by an unseen enemy, and the responses displayed an uncanny resemblance to warfare with a general quiet sentiment of a silver screen like Armageddon no one could escape from. People had their movements, travel and daily life restricted; foreign tourists and visitors were banned from entering the country; medical staff prepared for a surge in cases; those who suspected an infection required to undergo a health check and self-quarantine for 14 days. Everyone stopped in their tracks.

No one is fooled, all this is temporary. The world will find a way to eradicate, if not curtail COVID-19, just like we did with SARS and Ebola in the recent past. Once effective measures are in place to deal with health-related concerns and public wellbeing, we will have to look to means of economic stimulus to steer the global economy out of the current storm.